I'm having trouble with my bush beans.

[Raven]

I'm in SW NH. I planted bb seeds at the end of May and only one plant came up. I replanted and nothing has come up. I'm wondering if it's because of all the rain we've had up here. Any ideas?

[Denninmi]

1. Possibly.

If it's too wet, the seeds can rot. Especially if the soil temp is under 65 to 70. They do better in warm soil. You also could have animals such as field mice, deer mice, voles, chipmunks, or squirrels digging them up and eating them. Or you simply could have gotten some bad seeds that were old, or somehow damaged somewhere along the chain of sale by heat, something like that.

I would try replanting with fresh seed from a different source. It's not too late, you should be able to sow bush green/wax beans through mid July where you are and still get a crop.

[beac]

2. Here's how I do mine:

I plant several seeds in a little peat pellet greenhouse like this one:




Once they've germinated, I let them grow a bit more in the greenhouse (until the leaves start to touch the lid) and then I move the pellets into empty flower flats that I've saved. Like these (minus the marigolds, of course):



I just keep the pellets litghtly watered but not soggy until the plants are about 4-5" tall. Then I plant them out in pots, but it should work the same for planting them in the ground.

I've been planting a new set of beans about every two weeks so I will have them throughout the season. You should have plenty of time to get a good crop!

Hope this helps and good luck!

[snacker]

3. I just replanted mine.

Mine didn't come either, but the problem here is the lack of rain.

[Vinca]

4. I thought it was just me!

I planted both pole beans and string beans before the monsoons. The pole beans came up, but promptly rusted and died. The bush beans never came up. I finally resorted to soaking new beans overnight, then putting them in damp paper towels until they started to germinate. That seemed to work. I'm also having squash/cucumber/cantelope/pumpkin problems. They don't want to come up either. I decided to start some under grow lights in the house and transplant them. This is the most frustrating garden I've ever had. Oh, I almost forgot the disgusting green caterpillars that blew threw my lettuce patch after hail from the first storm damaged everything. Grrrr.

[Raven]

5. Where are you, Vinca?

[Vinca]

6. About 10 miles west of Keene.

[Raven]

7. Damn! I knew that...and forgot. So, it must

be the weather we had. I'm going to keep on trying.